one brings food. Someone watches the keiki for an hour. Small acts, and they are how communities become resilient. My experience has taught me one lesson that has followed me everywhere. People are not just recipients of services. They carry incredible knowledge and strength. My job is not always to arrive with the answer. Sometimes it is to sit down, listen, and notice what already works. We All Have a Role Mothering the community does not belong to mothers alone. Fathers, partners, grandparents, kupuna, neighbors, healthcare workers, and teachers all have a place in it. It can be as simple as bringing a meal to a new parent, or asking a mother how she is doing and staying long enough to hear the real answer. Building a village does not require a crowd. It might be one or two relationships that feel safe and dependable. Think about who you would call at your most exhausted. Who could bring dinner? Then ask the harder question. Whose village can you be? You do not need a special role to do this. Most days, with my own two underfoot, I do not feel like an expert either. You just need to show up. The early years can feel small and repetitive: feedings, diapers, laundry, tantrums, bedtime, and doing it again. But none of us were meant to do it alone, including the people who show up to help. The village gets built in ordinary moments, on the lanai, over a shared meal, sitting quietly beside a parent who needs to know that someone sees them. Some days that starts with something very simple. We sit down. We ask, “How are you doing?” And we stay long enough to listen. Pennie Bumrungsiri is a Licensed Midwife and Director of the Wraparound Reproductive Access Program with Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawaii. When not on the road in HMHB’s mobile clinic, she is floating in the ocean with her family. 118 Hawaii Parent NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2026
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